Love and Marriage
by INMH
Summary: In which Cole's older daughter shows that she's got her father's sense of intuition. Warning: Language, Major Character Death, Brief Allusions to Necrophilia, Spoilers.


Love and Marriage

**Rating:** PG-13/T

**Genre:** Tragedy/Drama/Angst/Family  
**Summary:** In which Cole's older daughter shows that she's got her father's sense of intuition. Warning: Language, Major Character Death, Brief Allusions to Necrophilia, Spoilers.

**Author's Note:** Nothing continues to be not okay and everything still hurts. *Gross sobbing*

**Disclaimer:** I don't own L.A. Noire. It belongs to Rockstar Games and Team Bondi.

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Ella Phelps did not like Roy Earle.

She didn't like him when he came to dinner that one time because mommy invited him, when he asked her and Sarah to call him Roy and grinned down at them with a smile that was… Not right. It didn't look real- kind of like the smile mommy put on whenever Auntie Dolores came over and started looking for dust on the counters and telling her how to cook.

Daddy didn't like him either, or at least that's what Ella thought. He smiled, but it never lasted, becoming strained whenever Roy started talking and dying down whenever he thought no one was looking at him. That was funny, because wasn't Roy his friend, someone that he worked with, another police officer?

When daddy saw Ella looking, the smile came back and he gently prodded her to finish her carrots.

Ella did not like Roy Earle when he spoke at daddy's funeral; though to be fair, Ella didn't like much of anything or anyone anymore, because how could she like anything when her daddy was dead? She didn't even like her mommy anymore, because her mommy had made him leave and now he was dead and she and Sarah never got to say goodbye and it just wasn't _fair_.

A lot of people who worked with daddy came up to say they were sorry that he was dead. Ella didn't say a word to any of them, and she definitely didn't say anything to Roy Earle when he came by and said that he was so sorry and what could he do for them and that he was there for them whenever he needed them.

Ella wanted to tell him to go away and never come back. She didn't like his smile, and she didn't like the way he talked when he was giving the… speech-thing about her daddy. It sounded _wrong_. It sounded like Billy Parker from her class sounded when he was lying to the teacher about putting the spider in Jenny Hampton's coat. It didn't sound right. _He_ didn't sound right.

Roy knelt down and gave a not-quite there smile (not one of his not-right smiles, but the closest thing you can give to a real one when you're at a funeral and everyone has to be sad). "How're you doing, Ellie? Sarah?"

Ella glared at him and didn't say a word. Only her daddy called her Ellie; Roy was not her daddy.

Sarah, only three and a half and still not really understanding that their daddy was gone and not coming back, babbled about the big church and the people around them and the car ride and the morning they'd had and _she_ didn't see that Roy Earle was _wrong_, but Ella did. And she wouldn't forget it.

Ella didn't like Roy Earle when he started coming around their house, and she really didn't like it when those visits increased and the time he spent there grew more and more every time. She really, _really _didn't like it when she came into the kitchen one day and saw Sarah sitting on his lap, babbling away with Roy listening to every word with an interest that seemed fake (which was what adults usually did when Sarah started chattering like that).

And she really, really, _really_ didn't like it when she noticed that her mommy was starting to look at him the way she used to look at daddy.

Ella waited and she hoped and she prayed and asked God that he please, please, _please_ not let her mommy really start to like Roy Earle, not the man that her daddy had seemed unhappy about having at their dinner table when he was alive, not the man whose smile felt wrong and, and _fake_, not the man whose voice always made him sound like he was keeping a lot of things unsaid.

Please, _please_.

But much like when Ella prayed for Him to bring her daddy back to life, God did not listen.

It was about a week before Ella's seventh birthday, which she wasn't looking forward to anyway because it would be her first without her daddy, when her mommy and _Roy_ told her and Sarah.

Sarah, four two and a half months ago, did not seem bothered.

Ella pitched a fit worthy of ten angry little girls and didn't regret a single second of it, not even when her mommy sent her to her room.

Ella did not like Roy Earle.

And that was unfortunate, because now he was going to marry her mommy.

Married.

Ella didn't like it.

_Married_.

Ella _hated_ it.

_Married!_

Because Roy was going to be her daddy now, right? That was how it worked- or no, no, not her daddy, but her _step-father_ in the same way that Cinderella had a step-mother. Very much in the same way that Cinderella had a step-mother, because it wouldn't surprise Ella at all if Cinderella's step-mother had a not-right smile and a voice that made you think every word that came out of her mouth was a lie.

Roy tried to be extra-nice to her, but Ella didn't buy it. He told her oh-so-sweetly that her daddy would always be her daddy and he wasn't going to, didn't _want_ to replace him, but the problem with having a voice like Roy's was that, because every word sounded like a lie, it was very hard to believe him. He tried taking her and Sarah out to the carnival, to lunch, tried to play with and spend time with them, and with Sarah it worked. Sarah simply seemed to accept it all, unbothered, and it hurt Ella very, very badly to realize that her little sister was starting to forget about their daddy.

And that made her dislike Roy all the more.

One day, in yet another attempt to make Ella like him (it was almost enough to make her laugh because she was quite certain that she would _never_ like him), Roy took her and Sarah both into the police station where he and their daddy (their _real _daddy, she was more than happy to say whenever she felt she had to) used to work together.

"You want to see the offices?" Roy asked, and Sarah nodded eagerly.

Ella was stone-faced. "Not really."

Roy took a deep breath, and today it seemed that he wasn't willing to deal with Ella, because he gave a much more forced version of his usual smile and said, "Well, why don't you wait here, on the bench while I take your sister upstairs?"

Ella plopped down on the bench and didn't say a word.

It wasn't long before two men came through the doors nearby, talking loudly.

"-I'm just saying that the department frowns on putting material witnesses in the hospital, Rusty!"

"That little rat-bastard was asking for it; I ran into him on the Summers murder cases and I gave him a few good thumps then too! You come up and see him doing what he was doing to that body and you'd-"

They had stopped before Ella, and the younger of the two men had noticed her quickly and started jabbing at the older one while he was speaking. "Rusty- _Rusty_- _shush!_" The older man turned around, saw Ella, and the two of them immediately adopted the same smiles that grown-ups always did when they realized she was around.

"Hey there, kiddo," Rusty said, scratching his head. "Have we met?" The younger man whispered something, and Rusty said, "What?"

"_She's Cole's kid,_" The man hissed, this time just loud enough for her to hear, and the sound of her daddy's name made her even more upset than she already was.

"Oh! Right! You're, uh…"

"Ella," Ella sniffed, tightening her already crossed arms and glaring straight ahead at the wall.

"Well, hello Ella," The younger man sat down beside her with a winning smile. His, unlike _Roy's_, looked quite real. "I'm Stefan, and this big lug is Rusty. We-" The smile flickered. "We worked with your dad."

"I know," Ella said. "I saw you at the funeral." Now that she'd gotten a good look at them, she could recall them coming up and saying 'sorry' with everyone else. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Like sorry could make it better.

"So… What are you doing here? You here with your mom?" Rusty didn't smile, and didn't look quite as easy and loose as Stefan. He looked uncomfortable.

Ella's lip curled up. "_Roy_ brought Sarah and I here."

"Roy? Roy Earle?" Rusty's eyebrows popped up in surprise. Ella nodded.

"Oh, _Roy!_" Stefan gushed. "We just _love_ Roy, don't we Rusty? He's just the bees-knees, the sweetest and nicest fella a girl could hope for!" He fluttered his lashes and Ella couldn't stop herself from snorting.

Rusty rolled his eyes. "Easy there, Stefan, we don't need another harassment charge." He grumbled.

Stefan turned back to Ella. "So, little lady, what good luck allowed you to be Roy Earle's company to the station today?"

Ella could tell he was joking, and he _was_ pretty funny, but there was nothing funny about the situation. "He's marrying my mom."

Rusty let out a loud cough, and Stefan leaned back. "Say what?"

"You heard me," Ella said, lifting her chin.

"Geez," Rusty sighed. "Roy? Of all people? That's-" Ella saw him look quickly at her, and then away again. "That's unusual."

Stefan didn't look so easy anymore either, he and Rusty both looked like they'd just gotten some very bad news, and Ella wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wasn't the only one who didn't like Roy Earle.

"I don't like him," She said finally. "I don't like this smile. I don't like his voice. I don't like _him_. He's fake and he's a liar and I don't want him marrying my mommy. I want my daddy back."

The two men stared at her for a long moment.

Then Rusty let out a low whistle, and Stefan shook his head. "God damn, but you are Cole's daughter," He muttered, but then stiffened a little. "I didn't say that, all right kiddo?"

Ella shrugged and nodded. She wasn't really certain what he meant by that.

Rusty, still looking rather uncomfortable, heaved another sigh and sat down on her other side. "Listen, kid- if Roy is ever… _mean_ to you, you give us a call, alright? You call here and you ask for Rusty or Stefan. You got it? You know how to use a phone?"

Ella did know how to use a phone, and for the first time, she felt that she wasn't alone and that others saw what she saw.

But now she wondered: Roy was fake, very fake, but when was he going to get mean?

Ella did not like Roy Earle, and now she was a little afraid of him too.

Time moved too fast, and soon enough Ella was standing in the little yellow dress (a slightly larger version than Sarah's) and scowling through the ceremony as Roy- stupid, stupid Roy- became her step-father.

Ella did not like Roy Earle, and it did not escape her notice that the speech he gave at the party after the wedding was spoken in the same tone, the same way his speech at her daddy's funeral had been spoken.

_Fake, fake, fake!_

The last place she wanted to be was anywhere near Roy, but her uncle called her over and more or less demanded her presence at his side while he made small-talk with the man. Luckily, Roy seemed interested enough in the conversation that he didn't bother with her much. They were talking about grown-up things, politics, something that neither interested nor concerned Ella.

However, there came a moment where she suddenly became relevant.

"So be straight with me, Roy: Where do you stand on the election? I'm pulling for Dewey myself."

"Dewey is as fine a man as the presidency can hope for, Ben," Roy said easily, grinning and taking a sip from his glass.

That was a lie.

It was the first time Ella had heard Roy say something and know, for an absolute fact, that he was not telling the truth. It was also the first time that she had evidence to support such a notion.

And so, as her daddy had always told her to, Ella was a good girl and told the truth.

"That's not true," Ella said, making sure her voice sounded perfectly nice and _respectful_ (something her mommy has said over and over and over again) as she looked Roy right in the eye. "When he was on the radio last week you said that he was full of horse-shit."

Uncle Ben laughed so hard that he ended up choking on his drink, and Roy quickly hurried to help him with that instead of trying to prove Ella wrong.

"Ah, Ellie…" Roy said, and the words came through his teeth. "You are _just_ like your dad. Good old Cole, God rest his soul."

And as Ella looked into his eyes, she suddenly had a really strong feeling that Roy didn't like her either.

Good.

Ella did not like Roy Earle, and he would _never_ be her daddy.

-End


End file.
